飛行機で漫画！

My latest for the APEX Media blog discusses JAL’s rollout of the AVANT IFEC system. The Android-bases in-seat entertainment system is configurable… so JAL was able to launch the first-ever in-flight manga library.

Pretty, pretty planes

‘Tis the season for best-of-2014 lists. Check out APEX Media’s Top 10 Airline Liveries of 2014 . Actually you should keep an eye on the APEX blog all the time, since it puts out some awesome travel-industry stories.

While I love Air New Zealand’s paint-it-black approach, my favorite from the list is Air Inuit, whose majestic birds may or may not be friends with Garuda Indonesia’s mythical garuda.

The deliverables included an original logo-type and typeface inspired by the syllabic orthography of the Inuktitut language and an evocative livery design that reflects the Inuit printmaking tradition.

New gadgets for avid travelers

I wrote up a quick blog post for APEX, outlining some of the big trends for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Thankfully, we’ve moved beyond “how big is this year’s big-ass TV”, and on to more useful stuff.

It’s always cheaper to fly from Vancouver to New York than to Toronto or Montreal. Interprovincial travel is so expensive, many Canadians fly abroad rather than exploring their own country. Meanwhile, cash-strapped tourists will look past Canada when planning that annual holiday.

Will those extra fees go towards a few Magic Erasers, maybe clean the cabins on more than an annual basis? Recalibrate the IFE systems so that tapping the buttons produces an effect? Just a few suggestions.

Virgin Atlantic abandons Tokyo and Cape Town for more US flights

Instead, Virgin will fly daily to Detroit, as well as providing additional flights to Los Angeles and New York; all out of Heathrow.

(Virgin has been flying to Tokyo for around 25 years; to Cape Town for around 15 years; and to Vancouver for around 15 seconds.)

The Vancouver service will end on October 11 this year, the statement said, the Cape Town flights on April 26 and 27 next year, and the Tokyo and Mumbai flights on January 31 and February 1 next year.

What a shame. LHR-CPT was an awesome flight, circling around the tip of Africa to land in Cape Town in the early-morning sun.

Aside from shedding a few destinations, Virgin is implementing in-flight WiFi and installing new airport lounges for its more loyal customers.

In my experience, Virgin does not compete on price –– indeed, it’s usually more expensive than its competitors. However, Virgin understands service far better than do most other Western-Hemisphere carriers.

Flying Virgin out of the US has always been less sucky than flying with a US-based carrier. Branson’s airline is at an Asian-airline level of having its shit together. Now, if only it can turn a profit…

Virgin Atlantic is almost evenly shared between the Virgin Group and Delta Airlines. Virgin Atlantic has not been profitable for the last two years.

The kawaii-osphere exploded when the LAist published an article declaring that Hello Kitty is not a cat. I’m sure they didn’t mean to cause an international cat-panic, but they did… and some context is missing from Sanrio’s description of their flagship… cat.

Kotaku sought –– and recieved –– clarification:

When Kotaku called Sanrio’s Tokyo headquarters today and asked whether or not Hello Kitty was indeed a cat, a spokesperson explained, “Hello Kitty was done in the motif of a cat. It’s going too far to say that Hello Kitty is not a cat. Hello Kitty is a personification of a cat.”

Hello Kitty and her cat are like Goofy and Pluto: they’re both the same animal… but… different.

Sanrio told the Kotaku blog that Hello Kitty is 擬人化 (gijinka), an anthropomorphized version (of an animal or thing).

I would take this description further; further perhaps than would make Sanrio comfortable.

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ) is a 化け猫 (bakeneko), an old and powerful cat that can take humanoid form and exact revenge among humankind. Hello Kitty is 40 years old, by the way. More than old enough to assume the powers of the 化け猫: opening doors by herself, placing thoughts into people’s minds, getting them to do her bidding. Look at Hello Kitty merchandise sales, and you will find that my case is solid.

Obviously, if you use a device to prevent the seat in front of you from reclining, you’re acting like an entitled and selfish brat, albeit probably a brat sucking on his/her own knees.

That a product like the Knee Defender even exists should serve as a wake-up call to those designing coach-class cabins.

Never mind “should”, it is a wake-up call… though I have no reason to believe anyone on the other end is listening.

Note that the Knee Defender isn’t banned by the FAA… but it’s banned by many airlines, for achingly obvious reasons. Oh, and the dude who Knee Defended (can we verb this?) was sitting in Economy Plus, which ostensibly provides a more comfortable experience.

Nobody was arrested, which is refreshing .

Take note, though, carriers: this is how cruddy flying with you has become.

I reckon United did a really good job with their new safety video, which you can watch below. The location switches keep us watching.

Extra points for the James Bond reference and judicious kangaroo usage.

I wish that the demonstration plane could have been displayed solely in papercraft, but it would have been too hard to see what the flight attendant is talking about. Overall, it’s the best North American safety video I’ve ever seen. Hey, it’s tough to beat Air New Zealand.